Mom Fail

As a mom I expected to teach and nurture my children...daily, hourly, even by the minute, but I hadn't realized how much I'd learn about myself in the process. God is funny that way. I'd really rather show my children the specs to avoid getting in their eyes, but that plank o' mine gets in the way and then here I am, working on ME again. I'm thankful to be clay in His hands and not the world's . I'm thankful that the world makes me feel icky and uncomfortable and like I don't fit in all the time. I'm thankful to be a Christian. I'm thankful that even when I make mistakes, God forgives me and has a bigger and better plan than I could have ever imagined.

I ran across this photo below while trying to locate a few cutie pics of the girls (which are in great abundance and make me feel overwhelmed trying to choose just the right one). I was attempting to grab an image from far away of Ella running with a couple of her guy friends, but what I got was a giant statue of a nude, sunbathing woman. MOM FAIL.

Before you start with the questions, we were at a sculpture museum that houses mainly statues of children and animals. Culture, people, CULTURE.

This is more like it. My sweeties first thing in the morning with their Uncle Spencer:

God is good!

A midweek all girls roadtrip to Houston

Girl trip (Aunt Charley, Ella, Juliet and myself) to visit Great Grandma Rosie commenced on Tuesday, just in time for the "arctic blast" which made things a little more challenging for our hostess. We made the most of it and enjoyed every second with mine and Charley's Grandma Rosie (she is Great Grandma to the girls). Wednesday we hit up the Children's Museum which was super-duper awesome! We had been a few times when Ella was little and just crawling around the "tot spot", but this time she got to partake in all the big-kiddo stuff and we couldn't pull her away from Kidtropolis where she enjoyed being a vet, grocery store clerk, chef and an artist! If I were between the ages of 3 and 12, I'm pretty sure I would ask my mom if I could LIVE there. Here are a couple of museum day pics:



Pics from our "slumber party", as Ella referred to it, below. It was a party simply because Ella, Juliet and Aunt Charley were all sporting footy-pajamas.
D-Bear and Charlene playing.


Great Grandma and Aunt Anna through Ella's eyes (lens):

Beautiful pic of Aunt Anna. Ella artistically requested that she remove her glasses prior to the shoot. (hmmm?)

Last, but not least, Juliet soaking up kisses from Great Grandma. I totally thought she was going to fall asleep while receiving loads of these kisses. She couldn't get enough of G.G.'s love!
Our trip was a complete success! Ella went home with her Nana and Juliet is counting the minutes until she arrives home on Saturday. (me, too)

Cinnamon Rolls and Sammy

We love hanging out with Sammy and Miss Heidi. They are the perfect combination of fabulous food and fun! Last week's play date began at Upper Crust Bakery over the BEST, flakiest, buttery, cinnamon-y, yummiest, rolls. K, I like them and you will notice they are not pictured because they were completely devoured prior to these pics. Here is Ella and Sammy goofing off together while Miss Heidi and I attempt to catch up on current events since our last food/fun fest the week prior. Love, love, LOVE these pics!
Please note: If you are thinking either, A:why didn't you focus on Sammy in the background or B:cool effect focusing on Ella in the foreground I have to advise that I allow my camera complete creative control b/c I really don't pretend to know the first thing about photo-magic

awwwww, I know! I would say I captured a sweet moment between these two except that Sammy is ALWAYS this amazingly sweet with little Juliet.

noticing a trend?

Sammy trying so hard to ride his bike. He did awesome!
Ack!!! No pics of glowing Miss Heidi and her burgeoning belly. Next time!
Wha!? Yeah. Zach and Ella had a photo shoot where D was their subject. Ella held the flashlight just so as Zach played with exposure times to capture the image in the otherwise dark room. The effect is a D that looks a little dead, but don't fret because he is still very much apart of our family ; )

Picture Post!!

Forgive the volume, but I had some catching up to do from the past couple of weeks.
Ramsey Park on a frosty morning, thus requiring Ella to keep her hands in her pockets:


Brunch hosted by Miss Heather in honour of Brook-E's visit (not pictured is the martha stewart-esque spread of goodies she had arranged for us):


Our last playdate with Brook-E and Abby during their nearly week-long visit! This time we hit up the bounce house place called "Locomotion!". Abby working the register:


I love this pic for two reasons: first, Ella is loading her basket with french bread as quickly as she can and I know that when she is an adult and does her own grocery shopping she will do this very thing. Second, Peyton reminds me of her purdy mommy by multitasking. She is A)ROCKING a pink princess dress, B)caring for a sick puppy from the "vet" and C)getting a little grocery shopping done.

Why is Juliet smiling so big?

I think it has something to do with this lovely, skinny jean wearing girl:

Raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake + oreo cookie crust. This is how we roll when celebrating a special birthday for our friend Heidi (not pictured).

I had to include this picture because this is how Juliet has looked much of the past couple of weeks: total concentration on trying to crawl forward, but inevitably propelling herself backwards and a little snotty.

Ella riding her super duper pink, with pink frosting big girl bike!

Juliet's grin of approval while watching her big sister successfully maneuver her bike:

My beautiful Ella:


SPARKLERS!!! (they were included in Christmas gifts from Griff and MawChing!)

Friday fun days with Aunt Charley! (this will be a reoccurring series : )




Aunt Charley took Ella to pick out and paint a gift for Zach's upcoming birthday. I can't reveal the finished product, but Ella did an amazing job. She got to pick the colors and even some stamps to use to decorate the "item". Many of the stamps were things Zach would like: football helmet and a rocket ship, but the funniest choice had to be the high heel shoe stamp. She had complete creative control.



Ella preparing to devour her "bling pop". I poured some apple flavored pedialite into the gem-shaped popsicle maker and wha-la! This made getting better quickly a little easier. (another gift from Griff and MawChing)

Spring-time fun in the winter

Juliet has really taken to the swings at the park. Thanks to Mimi and Papa we now have one in the backyard, as well. In between pushing Juliet, Ella and I like to play "supergirl" where she rides the swing on her belly to save me from a series of unfortunate events that land me in the hospital. Thankfully, the slide enables her to carry me safely to the doctor.

Juliet tries bananas!


Juliet doesn't really like bananas so we are just gonna put solid foods on hold. This is GREAT news on the diaper-ing front ; )

Brook-E is in town with her little Abby. They are a couple of our FAVORITE PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! They live in Cali so we don't get to enjoy their company as much as we'd like to. We have been soaking up every moment of their visit this week. Thursday we rode the Zilker Zephyr (Juliet's first train ride!) and then devoured some cheese steaks at Texadelphia. I'm sad I didn't bring my camera, but I'm sure it would have been ruined in a sea of mustard sauce anyway so it was for the best. Here are some pics or our antics on UT campus with the girls yesterday. Stephanie, Peyton and Aunt Charley were in the mix, too. We are having a ball!

Steph with Peyton, Abby and Juliet. Abby needs to hold Juliet every so often.

Juliet in my lap teething on a carrot. No teeth, yet.

LOVE this one!

Abby "falling down". She would fall and lay posed on the ground for nearly a minute. It was so cute!

The girls diving into a snack bag for dried cranberries in our 30-minute pre-picnic snack session. These girls like to EAT! (like their mommas)

Peyton and Ella perched on the limb of an ancient oak on UT grounds under which we were picnic-ing.

Brook-E (that is not how you spell her name, BTW, but that is how I pronounce it so I spell it that way) and the girls in front of the massively wonderful fountain right by Zach's work and next to our picnic spot. Yes, Zach joined us for lunch!

The girls were able to do some serious exploring around the campus.

It is true that there is not enough Ella pictured here. All of our paparazzi ways have taken a toll on her and she is a little camera shy (fingers crossed this is just a phase). She refused to play ring around the rosies after I pulled out the camera. She has been really funny like that and I can't help thinking she is just becoming a little more shy and reserved as she is getting older. She enjoys sitting with the moms and just listening to our conversations. It is cracking me up. I'm also beginning to see glimpses into the thoughtful, considerate person she is going to be.
ACK!!!!! As I was typing this Juliet just rolled over for the VERY FIRST TIME next to Zach and Ella. I've been pleading with her to roll over for a few days because she has been on the cusp of doing it. I wouldn't be surprised if you read a crawling post very soon because this girl has some moves. More on that later and definitely a post packed with Ella pics to come!